Charitable Group, Having Raised $800,000 Already This Year, Is on $4 Million Track

By Esme Nicholson

PLYMOUTH, Mass.—The bewildered looks on the faces of young patients in the children’s ward of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute were wrenching enough. For Frank Strauss, who had himself become a parent in 1995 to his first child, Nicole, only three months before, the helplessness etched on their parents’ faces was far worse.

Having to walk through this scene every time he went to visit his mother, diagnosed with leukemia at the young age of 54, was devastating. Eventually, though, as Strauss’ mother, Sandra, regained strength—she remains in remission today, as one in three adults who beats the disease—the ordeal became an inspiration.